5 ms·
It's interesting that the "Environment" section mentions this in passing: > Food comes mainly from packets or tins [...] There is a daily bread bake, and speci
by avar 6y ago
It's interesting that the "Environment" section mentions this in passing:
> Food comes mainly from packets or tins [...] There is a daily bread bake, and special occasions merit the thawing of a small amount of meat from a -20 C. freezer or from an ice cave in the nearby glacier.
Then in the "Discussion" section:
> The occurrence of a common cold during isolation, when the chances of introduction of new infection from the outside are virtually nil, implies that in some way virus persisted, either in the environment or in the men
It then goes on to suggest animal reservoirs as a potential cause, as well as inanimate objects and that a virus "might have persisted in the respiratory tract of one or more men".
But one of these packets of meat being opened and thawed isn't mentioned as a potential cause. I could find a couple of papers claiming that viruses survive for months or even years in food. Mystery most likely solved without the need for hitherto unknown or unlikely transmission vectors.
That seems to me to obviously be the most likely cause. Someone sneezed on or otherwise contaminated a packet of meat that was then frozen and thawed months later.
These people aren't truly "isolated" in the sense that they're going through a continual process of opening time frozen time capsules from the past.
One of the papers that cite this one (published in the same year) discusses such "time capsule" effects, although not with food, but from opening presents kept in storage, unpacking stored clothing etc.[1]
1. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B2473CA4D9EB915221145A1480743FD9/S0022172400022919a.pdf/common_colds_in_antarctica.pdf https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/c...
- nelaboras 6y agoViruses also can stay inactive in the body for years, see herpes as an obvious example. No idea if that can also be true for flu viruses though.
- cpncrunch 6y agoTrue for herpesviruses as they infect the immune system, but rhinovirus and coronavirus don't reactivate.
- ComputerGuru 6y agoAnd chickenpox infects the nervous system.
- cpncrunch 6y agoChickenpox is a herpesvirus too, although very different symptoms to "common cold".
- ComputerGuru 6y agoThat’s true, but I felt the need to call out the nervous system component of the picture.
- cj 6y ago> Someone sneezed on... Sanjay Gupta was talking on CNN (I know, not the most reputable source) and at one point flat out said "If a cook in the kitchen of a restauraunt you're ordering from has covid19 and sneezes on your food, it won't get passed on to you, since this is not a food borne illness". I was quite shocked to hear that. I'd be very curious to see what actual science says about food as an infection vector.
- AnotherGoodName 6y agoThere's evidence it can infect via the digestive system. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7172493/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7172493/ The above study seems to imply that a gastro based infection of COVID is linked to mild symptoms though since cells in the digestive tract have far fewer ACE2 receptors compared to the respiratory system. So maybe it's the best way to catch the disease?
- y-c-o-m-b 6y agoIf we could somehow confirm that most (>95%) of gastro based infections result in mild symptoms, I wonder if that would be one way (although not a great way) to "immunize" the public vs a vaccine? Swallow the pill containing the virus and let it run its course to develop immunity?
- samatman 6y agoThis general strategy is called inoculation, or variolation. It is, indeed, not a great way to immunize the public, as the patient becomes contagious, and can pass on full-blown infection to other people. It's also dangerous in its own right; 'mild' infections can progress to full-blown infections.
- AnotherGoodName 6y agoIf the risk could be reduced 10-100X it may be worth consideration. I could imagine one of the crazier/more desperate countries trying this in order to get ahead long term (North Korea?).
- Cactus2018 6y ago> contaminated a packet Plus a Vit D deficiency https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/
- m463 6y agoI watched that video early on about handling your groceries. One part mentioned how long covid could persist on things. - aerosol form - 3 hours - on cardboard - 1 hour - on plastic/metal - 3 days Later in the video they mention heat and cold - heat in microwave - kills it but then... - some coronavirus species can live frozen for up to 2 years https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps
- everybodyknows 6y ago>some coronavirus species can live frozen for up to 2 years For this reason, my own policy now is to treat any package that went straight from store to fridge/freezer as contaminated. Everything non-perishable sits near a sunny window for three days before any further handling.
- Gibbon1 6y agoI think that's reasonable. Simple viruses like this inactivate quickly at room temp. So the less handling the better. Soap/detergent also kills these types of viruses. You don't need medical grade sterilization.